Alpha ajax's sacrifice

Chapter2

Chapter Two



Ajax



I realized I had made a mistake the moment I made that announcement. I should have just kept quiet, I should have ended it after the gratitude speech and none of this would have happened. Instead, I continued with the speech like the fear-ridden puppet I was. I was scared, scared that if I hadn't done it, then it could lead to an even worse mistake that would cost Riley her life. 



I returned the microphone to the host in a haste and stepped down from the podium, my eyes were searching Riley in the crowd, I wasn't sure she would still be here but I had to at least make sure. This was a mistake I had made and it had to be corrected, somehow. Riley had left her usual spot and my eyes met with my sister's instead who looked at me like I had just sawed her heart into two halves. 



I knew in a way, I had. Riley and Willow were close,very close. I figured I had to talk to Riley,I had to explain. I didn't want Lola as my mate, not in a million years but I had no choice. 



I forced my way out through the crowd even as Lola cajoled up to me with that smile I had come to hate plastered across her face. 



“How are you doing, Ajax?” I flinched as her head slithered towards the back of my head. 



I drawed back and pulled her hands off my body, “it's Alpha Ajax to you.” I corrected her with a stern tone and left her presence as quickly as I could. 



“Willow!” I called my sister's name when I got close enough to her. 



Usually, she was always bouncing up around me but the moment she found out I was the one calling her, she downright ignored me. 



“Willow!” I called again. 



“Don’t f*****g talk to me!” Her nose flared and I had never seen so much anger burst out of her before, not at me.



“Willow please listen to me…” I realized everyone's attention was drawn to us and immediately grabbed her hand pulling her out of the bleachers. 



“Let me go.” She tried to yank her hands off but there's a reason I am Alpha of this pack.



“We need to talk.” We were just outside of the locker room. 



“About what? I expected you to choose Riley!” She went straight to the point. 



“But I can't.” I bawled. “Believe me Willow, I want to, I just can't.” I told her and I hope that was enough explanation because I wasn't ready to tell anyone about it. 



“What do you mean you can't?” She questioned me. I bit my lips, I knew she was going to ask that, she cared about Riley that much.



“I can't tell you, I'm sorry.” 



“Well that's fine, I'm sorry too.” I knew she was going to side-step me so I pulled her back immediately.



“Could you at least just tell me where Riley is?” I asked her. 



“No.” She shook her head and made to leave again. 



“Please. I need to talk to her.” I really do.



“I can’t okay.” Her pupils redacted. “I don't even know where she is and if I did, I wouldn't tell you.” She paused with a heave and looked at me. “You don't know how much you hurt her in there, Ajax. I mean why did you have to make a promise to her if you would still go ahead and break it?”



“I didn't mean to, it's just if I didn't choose Lola, something bad is going to happen to Riley.” That sounded stupid, I know, I know, but it's the truth. I was being threatened.



“I would tell you something, Ajax Hein, that's a really bad excuse and it's not going to work on me.” She said before leaving.



“It's the truth!” I called after her but it was no use, she was never going to believe me. Damn it! No one was.



I could finally feel the sweat starting to trickle down my forehead despite the presence of the November cold. 



“We need to find her.” My wolf growled within me, Voss was just as restless as I was. If I could just get a whiff of her…



Wait a moment,she was somewhere around here, I could smell her and I knew it had to be the locker room. I walked inside, I wasn't supposed to be here I knew that and I also knew Riley didn't deserve to be left alone like this. 



I found her sitting on the floor, heads buried between her laps as she used one of the lockers for back support. Was I supposed to get closer? Or should I just stay here? My mind was a jumbled mess!



“Riley.” She didn't respond, maybe because she knew it was me or because she didn't want to talk to anyone at all.



“Riley.” I tried again. Her head lifted only a bit and as soon as she landed her eyes on me, she looked over to the other side. 



“What do you want?” Her voice was cold and it fell in a whisper which I could have missed if the background noise was even just a bit louder.



“Please, I want us to talk about it.”



“About what?” She looked up at him. “We talk, Ajax, we always do, in fact we talked yesterday which I don't understand. Why did you make that promise to me if you were just going to go ahead and break it? I wouldn't care if you had just chosen Lola without telling me about it, what I do care about is your deceit. Why did you lie to me?” She queried.



“I'm sorry Riley, I didn't, I didn't want to.” It broke me watching her like that. The hair on her head was totally dishevelled, it was completely different from the look I had seen on her earlier this morning. 



“That doesn't explain anything.” She said flatly.



I ran my hands through my hair, I could explain this to her but there was no way she would believe me. 

“I'm doing this for you, Riley. You have to trust me.” I pleaded . I tried to move towards her but she crawled backwards and stood up.



“No, you're not.” She said matter-of-factly.



“What?”



“You can say that all you want but I know what the truth is. You're not doing this for me,you're doing it for you. I get it, I'm an Omega and Lola is a well trained gamma, I totally understand.” She said.



“No Riley, you know I've never cared about our ranks before…”



“Well yeah, maybe you lied! You Alphas are so good at lying and we Omegas are even better at believing. I believed you Ajax, I did.” She didn't let me finish. “Now I see that I've been nothing but a fool, a stupid naive fool who let a deceitful Alpha use her.”



I didn't, the goddess knows I didn't. I took another step towards her but maybe that was a mistake so I stopped.



“Riley, I need you to understand that…”



“There's nothing to understand, Ajax. You chose Lola and there's nothing you can't go back on it, not after that announcement but I have to say it to you. I wouldn't stay mated to a man who is legally tied to another woman. I can't.”



“What do you mean?” I knew what she meant, I knew exactly what she meant. I just couldn't let it happen. “You're not saying that you want to reject me?”



Her lack of response only affirmed my question.



“Is that what you're saying?” I questioned again. 



“You haven't given me much of a choice Ajax.”



“Look…” I went down on one knee, it's something I had never done for any woman before, no one had ever had the pleasure of seeing me on my knees. 



“I'm in a very tight spot at the moment, I don't mean to do any of this but I have to. I promise you when it's all over, you're still going to be my Luna, I swear it.” There was just too much at stake, I couldn't bear losing Riley, rejecting her was part of the deal with my puppet master but I had no plans to go through with it. I was still trying to figure out a way to bend the rules. 



“Just like you promised yesterday, isn't it?”



“This isn't like yesterday, please believe me.”



“I can't.” I knew I had messed up when she said that.



“I, Riley Stone, rejects Alpha Ajax Hein as my mate.” 



“Riley!” I half-cried and half-screamed as the pain tore through my heart. Riley fell too and I reached out just in time to catch her fall.



“Let me go.” She pushed me away and scurried to the other side. 



It broke me seeing her run away from me like that, it broke me even more knowing I couldn't go after her. The pain in my heart had paralysed the rest of my body. I really wished I could tell her why this was happening, I wanted to explain. I didn't want to lose her, not like this, not ever. I had not been given a choice too, I never wanted this to happen. I lay down on the floor breathing heavily, my hands grappling my chest as my surroundings changed slowly. 



“No.” I whispered softly as the darkness simmered in softly. The locker room vanished and I was left on what looked like the floor of a wet dark cave. 



“Alpha Hain.” The hairs on the nape of my neck stood up at the sound of that voice. . She was here. It was her. 



“I’ve already done what you want.” I hollered into the darkness. I couldn't see her face, I never have.



“No you haven't Hain, not exactly how I want it. You still have to banish her, remember ?” My ears perked up. 



“You never mentioned that!” I challenged her. “I'm not going to do it.”



“You have to, you remember what we discussed, don't you? Riley is going to die whether or not you follow my instructions. I'm just giving you an opportunity to make it easier for her.” She drawled. 



“So what say you? Alpha Hein.” My breath hitched. 



“I am not going to banish her.” It took me a lot of courage to mutter those words. If I didn't, no one else would and I knew that by now. She is my mate and it's my duty to protect her. 



She didn't say a word at first, and I couldn't see the features of her face to know exactly what she was thinking. 



“Well then.” She started, breaking the unnerving silence. “I hope it doesn't break your heart when you find her dead on the morrow.”



My jaw tightened, “Is that a threat?” I could feel the sweat dropping from the side of my face and my eyebrows burrowing.



“You're free to consider it one if you don't do as we have agreed. Have a good day Alpha.”